


The Silence Game [Larry Stylinson]

by adidaslouis



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fetus Direction, Fetus Harry, Fetus Louis, Fetus Niall, Fetus Zayn, Larry Stylinson Is Real, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-12 06:57:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5656951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adidaslouis/pseuds/adidaslouis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Louis Tomlinson is the best friend of famous R'n'B star Zayn Malik and meets lead singer/music biz newbie Harry Styles.</p>
<p>This fanfic follows the boys through the years, beginning 2010, and includes several events and encounters that the real boys had themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One. Twink turned daddy.

_{November 11, 2010. On their way to the new Harry Potter movie premiere.}_

Sometimes, it's funny how things creep up on you and suddenly turn out to be your life. Like when Louis met that dark haired loner boy in chemistry class, about six years ago. They both weren't really interested in protons and electrons, or looking at the huge belly of Mr. Allen all morning. So they both ended up in the very back of the classroom together. Within the first five minutes they had already become friends by spitting tiny balls of paper at the loser's head in front of them. Little did they know that all three of them would end up best friends who travel the world, stay at the most luxurious hotels around, and hang out with movie stars, just a few years later.

That's the thing, right? You never know what will happen until it is already happening. It might not affect you that one second, but it can already be part of your life in the next. This is what Louis had lived by, all his life. So when he was sitting in the black dark car with dark windows, and a driver and Zayn's security guard in the front, he didn't think about what could happen to him, next. He lived in the now. And right now, his life couldn't get any better.

"Shit, I can't wait for the movie," said Liam, who had long forgotten about all the teasing and poking that he had to endure during middle school, even though Zayn and Louis still liked to give him a wedgie or swap his toothpaste with hand cream, from time to time.

"Forget about the movie," Louis counters excitedly, "Think about all the actors and celebrities, attending the red carpet." It wasn't like they were attending an event like this for the first time. A lot of the people there tonight were their friends and Rupert Grint had personally invited them to come, but they were all still young. Everything shiny seemed exciting.

"Oh god, stop! I always get so nervous about meeting Emma," Liam moaned, burying his face in his palms.

"Dude, stop whining and have some booze," Zayn rolled his eyes and pressed a glass of champagne into one hand of the seventeen year old boy. Normally Zayn wasn't the biggest fan of champagne, but it was the best choice for pre-gaming before events like these. Shots will get you there too quickly and make you look like a drunken mess on the red carpet, and beer puts too much pressure on the bladder. So, champagne it is. At least it's a really good one.

"And forget about Emma," Louis added, emptying his own glass of champagne in one gulp, "Who cares about Emma? Have you seen Tom Felton's ass?" His eyes stared at an invisible spot in front of his face while making grabby hands at it.

Zayn screwed up his face into a grimace. "Ugh, crude," he groaned, rolling his eyes, "Louis, you always have to get sexual, don't you?"

Louis didn't even listen to Zayn. "Uh-huh, I'd totally hit that," he smirked, licking his lips. Louis had been out to the boys since he was only fourteen. To him, it was always very obvious how he felt about dicks. No need to make a big deal out of it in front of his best mates.

"Shut it, nympho," Zayn snapped at Louis, flipping the cork of the champagne bottle at him. But Louis knew Zayn well enough to see the tiny smirk behind his annoyed front.

Liam leaned over to Louis until he was almost on his lap, pretend whispering, "Don't worry, Lou. If you get a boner, watching Tom's arse move in his tight pants, you can hide behind me."

"Is that so?" Louis smirked and moved his head into kissing distance.

Liam only winked in response. The flirty thing just somehow developed between the two of them over the years. They never did anything about it, though. They only ever played, messed about. Liam wasn't even gay. It was pure show between them. Halfway to bother Zayn, halfway just because it was fun.

As expected, Zayn threw a somewhat horrified look in their direction. "There's something seriously wrong with you guys," he shook his head in disbelieve.

Before the two other boys could spin their little game any further, the stocky security guard Preston turned around from the passenger seat. "Oi, Zayn, before I forget," he grunted, "Bieber called to ask if you want to be on his next album."

Zayn tilted his head back slightly, a bored expression on his face. He lazily raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement but didn't answer immediately.

Liam sat up straight again and scoffed at the suggestion. "What? After you fucked his girlfriend, last month?" he said furrowing his eyebrows in disbelieve.

Zayn shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever, it'll be good publicity," he told his friend that didn't know the show business quite as well as Zayn did, "That's all that counts. If we do a song together, everyone will watch. They'll start talking about the rumors again, start new rumors, they'll try to guess whether we made up or if the rumors were even true in the first place, they'll hope for more drama. They'll apply any meaningless lyrics of the song to our so-called friendship and pretend to know us. It makes for good selling numbers. Nobody cares if we were even in the studio at the same time to record the track."

"Yeah, I'm not saying you need to decide, now," Preston shrugged his shoulders before turning around again, "'M just saying he called."

"Oh, and Zayn," Louis chipped in cheekily, "before I forget. Your mommy called to tell you, you're supposed to be home by 10:30pm, tonight."

At that, Zayn reached over and gave a sharp slap to the back of Louis' head. "Oh fuck off, jackass," he snarled, "Nobody cares anymore that you're off age. It's almost been a year."

"Yeah, and you're still a cute little minor," Louis boasted, pouring himself another glass of the bubbly.

"Pal, you realize that you can't be sleeping with younger boys anymore, it's illegal," Liam joked. He knew that Louis didn't have sex with a lot of guys, yet. He was one of the only openly gay guys in their small town and even in the world of Zayn's new job, most gay boys their age were still hiding inside their closets.

"Oh come on, Payno," Louis laughed, "You know I'd rather go for the daddies anyway."

"Yeh, no shit," Zayn grunted, still remembering that time Louis told him what he would let Zayn's dad do to him, in every little graphic detail possible. Zayn didn't _want_ to listen, back then, Louis _forced_ him.

"You know what," Louis smirked, downing his champagne once more, "Tonight, I hope I'll find a twink. I'll tell him how illegal it is and how wrong it would be for me to fuck him. He'll be sweaty and trembling before I even touch him."

"Ha, you'll never be able to pull it off. You're such a fucking twink yourself," Zayn scoffed, adjusting his hair in the blackened car window-turned-mirror beside him.

"Oh, I'll show you, Malik," said Louis jokingly, "Just let me find the right twink and I'll be daddy in no time."


	2. Two. Let's play Hollywood.

_{November 11, 2010. On the tube to the new Harry Potter movie premiere.}_

His hands were already shaking a little. There was that feeling in Harry's stomach that you have when you're suddenly falling, just that it didn't want to go away. He was nervous. Not just because there were so many famous people in one place but also because this was his first ever red carpet event.

He had yet to adjust to the cameras and the flashing lights, the strangers screaming in his face, and the nosy media folk with intimate questions and judging eyes.

Although Harry didn't have to face the red carpet on his own, he was the lead singer of his band, and that meant standing in the middle and being the center of attention.

"Don't worry, Harry," his best friend Niall said and patted his shoulder reassuringly, "it'll be over before you know it. And then we can watch the new movie as some of the first people on the _planet_!"

Niall wasn't part of the band, he wouldn't be joining Harry in front of the cameras today, but he was part of the gang. And he was Harry's best friend since he rescued Harry from a creepy producer at their shared label, almost a year ago, where Niall interned at the time. What would Harry do without that little carefree leprechaun, keeping him grounded whenever this new world became too much for him.

"I know, I'm just so scared that I'll do something embarrassing," Harry frowned, "you know how talented I am at falling."

Niall snorted and rolled his eyes at that, as if saying "Yeah, tell me about it, klutz".

"And what will I do if someone is rude to me? I'll start to stutter and feel bad for the rest of the night," Harry ranted away, not really caring about Niall's opinion anymore, "then they'll have it on tape and I'll go down in history as the biggest idiot in the world. I'll never be able to leave my house again and I'll let my band down and everything will be ruined."

"Chill, Harry," the bleached blond band member Alex laughed, "You'll just make it worse if you rile yourself up like that. They won't even pay a whole lot of attention to us. They didn't even consider sending us a car to get to the red carpet."

"Oh my god, I know," Harry huffed self-depreciatingly, "how embarrassing is that? We're not even getting there with a cool black car. We actually have to take the tube to get to the event. They'll think we're some silly school band, trying to sneak our way onto the carpet."

"We _ar_ e a silly school band," shrugged Will who supported Harry with vocals.

"And we've gotten pretty far by being silly, haven't we," Alex nudged Harry in the shoulder, making him almost lose his balance and topple over before gripping onto the pole next to him.

"Wouldn't have done it without you, Harry," Will smiled, ignoring Harry's clumsiness because at this point it had simply become ordinary behavior for him, "Without your voice and looks, not to mention your stage presence," he poked the dimple on Harry's right cheek, "and your unmistakable charm... we just couldn't have done it. Now we have our first single out and we're attending a huge event as 'celebrities', can you imagine?"

"Look how you're making him blush, Will. What's the point of that shower of compliments all of a sudden," Niall laughed, "he's going to be all arrogant and intolerable before you can even say 'brat'."

"I'm trying to make him feel more confident before we hit the red carpet. They're going to look at him more than at the rest of us, he's the face of the band. I want him to feel comfortable," Will said, smiling at Harry.

The two of them once had a short relationship when they were younger. Will had been Harry's only ever boyfriend, and also the person who made him realize that he was bisexual. But it didn't work out between them. After a few months they decided to end the relationship to save the band. But Will could still make Harry feel save and calm in some unexplainable way.

"Well, I don't think, I'll ever feel comfortable with people judging me. I care too much about what everybody thinks of me," Harry said, a frown forming on his forehead when he realized the middle-aged creepy man, ogling at him over his newspaper. He didn't even pretend to be reading it when he saw that Harry caught him staring. Instead, Harry swore that he saw the man wink at him. Harry huffed in annoyance and turned around to show the creep that the staring wasn't appreciated. He wished, he was confident enough to go up to him and tell him off. It would've helped him loads of times before this.

Harry knew that old men tended to like him. Always had. It was creepy and disgusting and wrong, but gradually he had almost gotten used to the looks and the suggestive comments by men who were about three times his age. Harry also knew the reason why he was so popular with those old men. He was what you could call pretty, as pretty as a teenage boy can get. With dimples, corkscrew curls, and an innocent smile. He had a baby face, too. He looked like he was 12 years old, 13 tops, even though he was turning 17 in a couple of months. Old men liked that. It was disgusting to even think about.

Niall noticed Harry's discomfort and threw his arm around his friend's shoulders protectively, giving the man behind his newspaper a dirty look. "Next stop is ours," Niall murmured into Harry's ear, "If he looks at you again, I'll kick him in the nuts, deal?"

Harry smiled at Niall in appreciation. He had always been the one who protected him from disgusting pedophilic men which were surprisingly common in show business. Ever since Niall had seen one of the producers at their label push Harry against a wall, almost choking him to death while undoing his pants, Niall had kept an eye on Harry. Harry secretly hated the fact that he was so dependent on people, but he didn't think that this would ever change. As long as he chose to depend on nice people like Niall and Will, he'd be okay.

"Now, let's just enjoy the night and get drunk on all the free beverages at the after party," exclaimed Niall with a fist in the air, "We could be waking up with movie stars tomorrow morning, I know I will," he winked jokingly, "Emma's already waiting for me, can you hear her calling."

Harry giggled immaturely, his eyes pressing together until closed completely while trying not to lose his balance again.

There was no way for Harry to wake up with a movie star in the morning. He was so nervous, he would probably not get one word out and blush until the ground opened up to swallow him whole. Nobody out there tonight could ever find him attractive. They were probably all very sophisticated and mature, very posh, very graceful. No chance that anyone of those people would give Harry so much as a second glance.


	3. Three. Oops... you know what comes next.

_{November 11, 2010. Harry Potter premiere, red carpet.}_

By the time, Louis and the others reached the red carpet, he was already half-cut. He was still sober enough to hide it from the cameras but he was definitely feeling a bit tipsy. This was bound to be a good night.

Him and Liam messed about, hitting each other in the balls or pretend-beating each other up, while waiting for Zayn who swiftly went from fan to fan to take pictures and give autographs. Those of his fans that stood nearest to Liam and Louis laughed and cheered them on, of course knowing the two best friends of their idol very well. Some even asked for pictures and screamed their names as if the two of them were celebrities as well.

After they moved along, down the red carpet and reached the media section and the big movie poster, they started posing professionally, feeling the rush of the attention. Years later, Louis used to joke about how cool he back then thought he was, when in reality, he had been nothing more than your loud, annoying teenage boy.

When Zayn was done posing for the cameras, they went on to give some short interviews which were mostly the same boring questions as always. Louis kind of hated those journalists who didn't really know the people they interviewed and hence asked the most stupid, repetitive questions. Are you single? How long does it take you to look this handsome? I love your new song, who is it about? Well, fortunately, Louis never had to answer those questions but he did have to remind himself not to roll his eyes at every now and then.

"... good looking boy that you are," the blonde interviewer with way too much make-up on giggled annoyingly, "While we're at the topic, we are all still wondering about your supposed encounter with Selena Gomez last month. Be honest, what was going on there?"

She beamed at him knowingly, holding the microphone directly in front of his face.

Zayn effortlessly morphed his face into a mask of indifference, the way he was taught to behave in these situations. "I'm not sure what you're talking about," he said and gave the woman a winning smile. Louis and Liam elbowed each other in the background, trying to keep their faces straight.

"Oh, you know what I am talking about," the interviewer replied with a fake laugh, "Come on, give us the juice."

Zayn cleared his throat and looked at the woman through his long lashes. "Well, Selena is a nice girl," he said, avoiding the real question to some extent, "We hung out a few times while I was in LA. I'm a big fan."

Of course that wasn't enough "juice" in the interviewer's eyes. She began to dig deeper, asking about Justin Bieber who Selena had just started dating when the pictures of Zayn and Selena making out in the back of a car went viral. Zayn's answers were professional. Vague enough to keep the mystery and the rumors going, but hinting just the right things to add to the fire. He was good at staying interesting.

But Louis stopped listening at some point. He knew the truth and he had heard the interview version a hundred times. His attention was suddenly pulled away by a roar from the crowd as a group of teenagers stepped onto the red carpet. Louis had never seen these guys as far as he could judge from the distance, but the fans went wild.

As the cause of hysteria gradually came closer, Louis realized how most of the young girls freaked out over one guy in particular, screaming his name loudest. The boy had brown curly hair, surrounding his soft featured face, making him look like a young angel in some way. Louis caught himself staring, but didn't honestly care. He was completely pulled in by the other boy's obvious excitement. The curly boy jumped all over the red carpet, hopping from one screaming fan to the next while his hair bobbed up and down like elastic springs. The most fascinating part of this happy boy was his dazzling smile. His dimples indented his cheeks so much that Louis could spot them even from a fair distance away.

Louis would've been fine watching the other boy for the rest of the night but was quickly ushered along by Zayn's PR manager, over to the next interview. They had to turn around a corner for this one, blocking Louis' view to the unknown boy.

"So, you guys are Zayn's best friends, right?" the interviewer said after a while, turning to the two boys flanking the singer.

"Yup, they are," answered Zayn for the other two.

"Must be great, always having your mates around," the interviewer announced into the camera beside him, "They must know everything about you. So, guys, what's the most embarrassing thing Zayn Malik ever did?"

Louis smirked immediately, remembering all those times they caught him wanking on the tour bus to shit like the sex scene in The Notebook. Or the first time all of them got really drunk and didn't know their limits yet, so Zayn ended up puking through his nose and pissing his pants at the same time. They all had embarrassing moments like that, but Louis knew that those could not be mentioned in a public interview because it would severely damage the teenager's career.

He didn't have to answer, of course. Liam scooped in professionally. He had always joined Zayn to his media training classes, somehow even got better at talking than Zayn. He had managed to save his famous friend's butt plenty of times, with just a seemingly meaningless comment at the right time. So Louis didn't even feel the need to think of an appropriate answer to the question.

"Uh, that's a toughie," Liam smirked charmingly and stepped forward to be able to speak into the mic, "I guess that time they made him dance at his first concert was pretty embarrassing."

"Yes exactly," Louis laughed as if that was exactly what he had been thinking of.

"They immediately changed the whole arrangement for the next concert, after that horror show," Liam laughed.

"It was embarrassing," Louis added, "he looked like a plugged chicken, trying to run away from the cook." When Liam laughed at the joke, Louis felt encouraged and started imitating the jerky dance which made everyone crack up. Louis kind of loved to make people laugh like that, it made him feel appreciated.

Just as Louis placed his hands on his hips, thrusting forward in an awkward angle while biting his lip comically, somebody slammed into him full force, yanking him to the ground.

"Phew," Louis groaned in surprise and spit out the piece of hair that actually belonged to the person on top of him. He looked up to find pink cheeks and glossy green eyes, widened in shock, staring back at him. It was the boy from before, the one everyone was freaking out over, the one with the curls. Some of which were now drenched in Louis spit.

"Oops," the boy squeaked and pushed his palms against Louis' chest to scramble himself up into a sitting position, but then somehow slipped and fell back down, flush against Louis' chest.

When he finally managed to press his palms down on either side of Louis' head to push himself up a little, he looked absolutely mortified, and in Louis' eyes... absolutely adorable.

"Hi," Louis smirked at Harry, before the younger boy clumsily fumbled with his arms and legs until both of them were able to stand on their feet again.

Harry felt his heart beat in his chest, more than it had all night. He felt like the biggest idiot for running into a stranger like that. In front of everyone. He thought he even saw Alan Rickman smirk at him over his thin glasses.

"Uh, hi," Harry breathed in surprise. The other boy didn't seem irritated by the rude encounter. Instead, he smirked at Harry cheekily and scanned him bottom to top. He was the same size as Louis, maybe a tiny bit shorter. You could still see his puppy fat here and there, though he was very handsome for his age. His baggy jeans hung low on his hips, making Louis wonder about the contents. His tongue darted over his lips quickly, without him noticing.

"I-I'm sorry," Harry said quickly, feeling somewhat uncomfortable under the eyes of the older boy. It wasn't just that he was older, he also seemed more confident and bold. And the fact that he was probably the most beautiful boy Harry had ever seen didn't make him feel any less flustered.

"I didn't- I wasn't trying to... do that," he said, looking at his feet.

"Wait, what? That wasn't your intension?" Louis joked lifting Harry's head by the chin, "Well that's a relief," he winked when the two boys made eye contact. Harry could practically feel his pupils dilate at the sight of the bright blue eyes, speckled with gold.

"Would've just been nice to know your name before you sit on me," Louis winked at the other boy in delight, making Harry's breath hitch.

"Oh, I-I'm Harry," he hurries, holding his hand out to shake.

Louis raised his eyebrows. "Hi, and I am Ron," he announced before taking the other's hand and giving it a shake.

Harry's jaw dropped in disbelieve. He was so surprised, he didn't even think of letting go of Louis' hand. "Seriously?" he said, completely in awe, "That's amazing! What are the odds?"

Louis grinned in amusement, enjoying the sight of the other boys flushed face, with so much live and excitement in his eyes, it almost burst out of him.

"Dude, you're being messed with," a dark haired boy with a hat appeared behind Harry, "That's Louis Tomlinson. He's a friend of Zayn Malik."

Louis could watch Harry's eyebrows rise in realization. He finally let go of Louis' hand and brushed his hands over his blazer.

The man who had been interviewing Zayn when Harry crushed into Louis, had finally caught up to the situation and took it upon himself to introduce everyone. He was obviously thrilled to be the first one to interview both acts together.

"So, Zayn, do you have any advice for The White Eskimo?" he asked eagerly after everyone had said hello.

While Zayn went on to recite his standard answer about ignoring rumors and staying true to who you are and keeping family and friends close, Louis watched Harry in utter amazement. He seemed so happy and positive and charming, it was pure bliss watching him.

When they all went inside the building together, Liam nudged Louis with a smirk. "Is that the twink you were talking about earlier in the car?" he murmured into his lad's ear so no one else could here.

A strangled laugh escaped Louis' throat which he poorly disguised as a sneeze before he pushed Liam away. "Piss off, loser," he says but couldn't keep the smirk off his face, "You're seeing things with your hetero eyes that simply don't exist in reality."

"So you're not staring at him with homo heart eyes the whole time?" countered Liam knowingly. He was so annoying when he was observing... and right.

"No," Louis said defensively.

"And you're not staring at his arse right now?" Liam chuckled. Harry was walking a few yards in front of them, talking to Zayn and the guy in the hat, Louis now knew was called Will. Somehow it didn't sit well with Louis that Harry didn't even turn around once.

"No!" he replied more urgently, "He doesn't even _have_ an ass."

"So you _were_ looking," Liam winked.

"Twat," Louis hissed, feeling his cheeks blush. Before Liam could make another exposing remark, Louis ran over to Harry and jumped onto his back with a scream.

When Harry realized who the attacker was, he started giggling and squirmed away from Louis' grabby hands. Louis felt a tingling sensation in his chest just because he knew that he had Harry's full attention again. So he raised his hands and ruffled through the other boy's thick hair. "Curly, curly, curly!" he screamed in delight.

Harry had never met someone who was so forward and open from the beginning. They'd only met a couple of minutes ago and Louis was already so comfortable with him, they could've well been childhood friends. Harry felt a bit taken aback by the behavior but at the same time he was completely captivated by Louis' spirit.

"Now you've ruined my hours and hours of work to make my hair look presentable," Harry tried to joke but couldn't stop chuckling.

"You mean, look like a mop, right," Louis elbowed Harry's side.

"Eey," Harry frowned, almost taking the bait.

But Louis obliviously ogled at the curls instead, looking at them dreamily. "...like a mop of luscious fabulousness," he finished while touching his fingertips to some of the curls as if they were living, breathing things.

"Where are your seats?" Louis heard Zayn say to the boys of TWE, as they entered the lobby.

"At the very back," Will said and pointed left.

"Oh," Louis lowered his hands with a disappointed expression on his face, "We're up front."

"Yeah," Harry nodded his head with a smile, gesturing at Zayn, "They wouldn't push him in the back of any event, would they?"

"Not, if they know what's good for them," Zayn winked appreciatively.

Before Louis could even notice the jealous bubble in his chest, Harry turned to him with coy eyes. "See you at the after party?" he asked, a shy smile forming on his lips.

The bubble in Louis' chest burst in an instant. "You think I'd want to miss your glossy hair swaying to the stimulating Harry Potter music, tonight?" Louis cooed, fluttering his eyelashes jokingly.

"You're weird," Harry chuckled in amusement.

The sound of his quiet chuckle was unbelievably endearing to Louis' ears. He fondly smiled at the younger boy, waving him goodbye as Zayn was asked to move along. "See you tonight," he said.

Louis honestly could not wait to see Harry again. And while he sat there, watching the movie and knowing that the other boy was there in the back of the cinema, he promised himself to make sure that this beautiful boy would always know how special he was.


	4. Four. Starstruck.

_{November 14, 2010. Louis' house.}_

It could well be one of those lazy Sundays with pizza and movies that made Louis feel like there wasn't a single problem in the world.

It was one of Louis' favorite things to do. He would have them every day if he could, but then there were parents and obligations that came with being a human that just wouldn't let him live.

But whenever he could, he would invite Liam over for a day of movies and snuggles and takeout and naps and junk food.

Today it was pepperoni pizza with extra cheese.

But it wasn't quite the perfect Sunday that Louis was used to. As he was lying on the couch, sharing a blanket with Liam, watching the X factor results, his mind kept drifting off. The whole thing got even worse when the reason for his distraction stepped on stage to perform with their band.

Liam noticed how Louis began to shuffle around relentlessly and looked over to him.

"You okay, man?" he asked with his eyes still on the TV.

"Yeah great," Louis lied, reaching for another slice of the cheesy pizza to have something to do with his hands.

The White Eskimo were really good. Their guitar riffs sounded tight and worked perfectly which Harry's voice who had a pretty deep voice for his age. It was also soft and clear and powerful all at the same time.

Without noticing, Louis began to move his lips to the lyrics, mouthing along to every word of the song. He had spent all weekend, watching every video of the band that he could find on the Internet and listening to all their songs. Louis didn't even care that it might look somewhat obsessive to spend so much time on a band. He just needed to know more about them and especially about their front man.

Louis wasn't even surprised anymore when he felt chills rolling through his body at that one particular part in the very end of the song.

"Funny how we just met them the other day and now we see them on TV for the first time," Liam said when the band was receiving their noisy applause.

"But they are really popular already," Louis shrugged, "you should've seen the fans when they stepped onto the red carpet. They went wild."

"They are going wild, right now," Liam pointed out, gesturing toward the TV, "No wonder, that Harry guy must be the wet fantasy of every 12 year old girl."

"He's more than that," Louis defended the curly boy immediately with a frown.

Liam looked at Louis, starting to realize what's going on. "Did you guys exchange numbers?" he asked, already guessing why Louis was so restless in the hour leading up to the performance.

Louis shook his head with disappointment on his face. "I didn't see him again after we watched the movie," he told his pal.

"Oh, that sucks."

"He promised, he'd come to the after party," Louis said, grabbing into his chips bag in frustration, "He said we'd see each other again. I wanted to get his number, I wanted to tell him that he's beautiful... but I couldn't."

Liam put his hand on Louis' thigh reassuringly. "You'll see him again," he said in confidence, "you can tell him then."

Louis stared at the TV as Harry left the stage after having exchanged a few words with the host.

"He really is beautiful, don't you think?" he smiles, deep in thought.

Liam cracked a smirk at Louis in amusement. "Don't tell me the oh-so-tough Louis Tomlinson has fallen for a dimpled, band leading kid after meeting him exactly once," he chuckled.

"So?" Louis crossed his arms in front of his chest, without really meaning that he had actually fallen for the bloke. He was crushing a little, yeah, but he wasn't an idiot.

"So nothing," smiled Liam, "it's great. You deserve someone."

At his words, Louis' shoulders sank. "Well, whatever. I'm not good enough for him," Louis grumbled, "he's cute and good looking and everything I'm not. No wonder he didn't see me after the movie. He probably went home with someone... and I don't even know if he even likes guys."

Liam shrugged and tried to give Louis his most supporting smile, to show him that he is positive. "You'll never know if you give up now," he smiled at his best friend, "I'm sure we'll see him again really soon and you can ask him for his number and tell him what you were going to tell him. And he'll tell you that it was all a mistake and he had to leave because he got sick from all the popcorn. I'm sure he was as infatuated with you as you were with him. Don't drive yourself mad with the thought he might've left with someone else. I'm sure it'll all work out in the end."


	5. Five. Playing with the big boys now.

_{November 14, 2010. X Factor backstage.}_

"This was insane," it burst out of a delighted Harry, the second he got off stage. This was one of his first national TV performances. His legs were shaking and he could literally feel the adrenaline rush through his veins. He felt invincible, like he could do anything. He even felt like kissing someone. He couldn't describe it but performing kind of made him feel a lot more desirable what with all those girls in the audience, screaming for him. It felt great.

" _You_ were insane, man," Niall said as he high-fived with his best friend, "did you see Louis Walsh falling of his chair while he was doing his old men's dance moves? I think you rocked his world."

"I can't believe how good it felt," Harry beamed and turned to his band mates, "wasn't that awesome?"

"Was sick," agreed Alex who was already putting his guitar back into its case. His guitar was his baby and whenever there were a lot of people around he would lock it away and protect it better than his eyeballs. He also called it "his girl". He was weird like that.

"You're voice was out of this world, tonight," Will said to Harry with a sparkle in his eyes, "I should've just stopped singing the backup and let them listen to your voice in its full beauty."

Harry blushed at the comment. He had always been shy about Will's compliments because Will just had something about him that made Harry feel weak and inferior, but at the same time, he was so nice. "But management wouldn't have been too happy about that, would they?" Harry smiled brightly, "And I need your backup. Without you, we wouldn't be half as good as we are now."

"I'd still play my guitar," Will winked, well knowing about the reaction he could get out of Harry.

"But that's not enough," Harry said hastily, "I need your voice. I can't do it without you."

Will smirked, "I'll always be here for you, babe."

Niall frowned at Will. He had never really liked him. The day he had met Will, he'd realized how manipulative he was towards Harry. He was nice to him, giving him compliments and comforting him when he was down, but he always did it for his own benefit. He always tried to keep Harry soft and pliable in his hands. Niall was sure that Will was still hung up on Harry. "That's really nice of you, Will," Niall said sharply, "but maybe you should get in line. We're all here for him."

Before anyone could comment on Niall's harsh tone, two girls approached the group. They looked about 14 and both wore an all-access backstage pass around their necks.

"Hey," the girl with long straight hair and braces smiled, "We just saw you guys perform. You're so talented. Would you mind, giving us your autograph?"

"Yes, and maybe a picture?" the other girl with frizzy curls added. Both of the girls mainly looked at Harry while talking. It was obvious that he was the center of attention, as always. Harry never noticed these things which was one of the qualities Niall liked most about his best friend; he was utterly humble.

"Yes, sure," Harry beamed at the girls in excitement and already motioned for them to stand next to him and the other boys. The girls gave their phones to Niall who patiently took some pictures of them and the band.

"Did you like our song?" Harry asked the girls while posing for a photo.

The curly haired girl blushed feverishly and nodded her head when he looked into her eyes. Niall smirked. He wasn't surprised. When Harry was talking to someone, he always managed to make them feel like they were the only person in the world. He was very good at keeping eye contact with people.

The other girl seemed to mistake Harry's charm with flirting and smirked back at him. "I _loved_ the song," she said and fluttered her lashes, "your voice is so deep and manly."

"Oh, you think so?" said Harry in surprise, "Thank you." He exchanged amused looks with Niall while the girl lowered her head to write something down in the notebook that Harry had just signed for her. There were several dozens of pages, filled with autographs of endless celebrities, in there.

The girl ripped out the page that she had been writing on and shoved it into Harry's hand. "Here," she said, looking into his eyes with a look that she clearly thought was seductive, "that's my phone number. I'm the niece of one of the producers, here. Call me whenever you want a tour of the studios or something."

"Thanks," Harry smiled and licked over his lips, clearly liking the attention, even though he had absolutely no intention of ever taking her offer, "I'll see you girls soon." He smiled at them politely before he went to join Niall who had sat down on a big black box, in the meanwhile.

"How do you do it, you total stud?" Niall laughed, nervously looking at the two girls. They were walking away from the boys, giggling and whispering in excitement. "Why do girls never give _me_ their number to very obviously do other things than show me around?"

Harry smiled at the bleached blonde lad and held the piece of paper out for him to take it. "Here, you can have it," he said, "I don't want it."

"What? You can't be serious," Niall squeaked, but already extended his arm to rip the note out of Harry's hand, "She was fit! Did you see her legs in that skirt?! I'd never get one like her."

"Now, you do," Harry smiled and motioned to the phone number on the note.

Niall looked at his best friend with and open jaw, trying to figure him out. "Don't tell me this is because of Caroline Flack," Niall said in disbelieve.

When Harry couldn't suppress his smile, he looked down and pushed his hands into his pockets with a shrug.

"Dude, that woman is like 80," Niall grunted with wide eyes.

Harry's head shot back up with a frown. "She's 31," he said quickly, "And I don't care about her age. _She_ is fit... and so much cooler than that girl with the braces."

"But she's almost twice your age," Niall told Harry, securely shoving the girl's note into his hoodie, "isn't that weird? She's only like 10 years younger than your mom!"

Harry shrugged his shoulders again. "Like I said, I don't care," he mumbled, "She's funny and smart and really pretty. Do you even get how surprised I was when she even showed interest in me, at the movie premiere?"

Niall opened his mouth and closed it again. He knew how surprising it had been. He'd been just as surprised as Harry. She had never seen Harry before and both Harry and Niall had only known her from the telly, as she was a rather successful show host. But she had randomly been seated right next to Harry at the Harry Potter movie premiere, a few days prior. They talked, and Harry was his goofy, yet charming self, and she smiled a lot, and Niall only sat there, not knowing what exactly was even happening.

"She's an independent, confident woman, Niall," Harry tried to explain, "She could have anyone. She's been with grown men, she's dated guys with real jobs and body hair and muscles who have their own flats and a cars. I don't even have a driving license, Nialler. Do you get how lucky I am to even get her attention? When she asked me to join her for dinner, after the movie premiere, I would've been a fool not to accept. She could go out with guys double my age who know all about women like her, but she still chose _me_ , Niall. Do you get it now?" Harry looked at the other boy almost in challenge.

Niall stared back at him for a moment before he cracked a smile. "See? I'm telling you, you're the luckiest guy out there. Only you could even make an old lady lose her panties for you," Niall laughed.

"She's not an old lady," Harry grunted angrily but when he heard his best friend's unmistakable, barking laughter, he quickly forgot about his irritation and joined in.

"She really is hot, isn't she," Niall confessed when both of them had sobered up a bit.

Harry nodded his head in an over the top motion. "Yes," he agreed, "and so funny, too. It was such a great evening with her, I hope I'll see her again."

Harry pulled his hands out of his pockets and took the place next to Niall. For a minute or so, they quietly sat in each other's company, watching the hectic bustle behind the scenes of the show.

Niall was still reminiscing the night of the movie premiere when Harry started speaking again. "You know, the only thing that I regret about joining her for dinner is that I didn't get to see Louis Tomlinson again," said Harry in a quiet voice, almost as if he was embarrassed to even say it.

"Louis Tomlinson?" Niall turned his head to look at his best friend.

"He was one of the friends of Zayn Malik, remember," Harry explained, beginning to blush, "the one that I stupidly ran over."

"Oh yes," Niall raised his eyebrows in realization. He had already forgotten about that incident. "Now that you said it, you were pretty impressed by that dude, weren't you?"

Harry smiled and ran his palms over his face to hide his blush. "He told me he wanted to see me dance," Harry chuckled and pointed to his head, "because of my hair. He said, he'd meet me at the after party," he began to bounce excitedly on the box, "even thinking about it makes me GAAAHH!" he giggled, pressing his palms over his eyes again.

"Okay, you did not show a reaction like _this_ when you talked about Caroline Flack," Niall noticed and furrowed his eyebrows, "are you sure you made the right decision to spend the night with her, instead of him?"

Harry straightened up and shook his head vigorously. "No, it's not like that," he assured quickly, "he wasn't interested in me like that. I think he's just a very forward person. He probably didn't even remember that we wanted to meet, at the after party."

"Are you sure," Niall questioned, "I think he was pretty obvious. He couldn't stop staring at you or touching you. I almost went in to pull him out of your ass, but you seemed to like it," Niall winked before cracking up about his sex joke.

Harry's cheeks instantly turned pink again. "No, he really wasn't interested like that, Niall," Harry said in conviction, "he was so cool and confident. I didn't even do anything to make him like me. I couldn't even try to be funny. Why would he like me? I'm sure he didn't even think about me once, since we met."

Niall didn't seem to be convinced but he didn't say anything, either. He rubbed the paper with the phone number of the girl inside of his pocket between his fingers. He would definitely call her, he thought, see what happens.

"I hope I'll meet him again, though," Harry said after a while, "he was pretty great, wasn't he?"

Niall smirked at him again and raised an eyebrow in amusement, "If you say so, Harold," he chuckled, making Harry blush for the third time in the past few minutes, "But Caroline Flack is sooo much greater, am I right?"


	6. Six. What's the name of the game?

_{February 17, 2011. At a hotel bar in London.}_

Louis wasn't surprised at all when they entered a hugely overcrowded bar after they discarded their over-night bags in their rooms. People were spilling out of the bar and had their own little parties on the corridor (if some of those rather suitable for private bedrooms than an open hotel hallway). The party was already in full spate; loud music, people shouting over the noise, spilling various beverages all over each other.

Because Louis and his two best friends had been pre-gaming quite a bit before they finally set off to get to the actual party, Louis already felt somewhat woozy when he took in all the dancing and laughing and snogging people. He didn't mind the buzz at all, though. After all, who wanted to be sober while everyone else was barging against you in an attempt to get another shot from the bar, or yelling something into your ear, or groping at you when you're trying to make your way across the room.

They were only standing in the doorway for less than a minute when Louis saw the patch of orange hair flashing through the crowd. The ginger birthday boy approached them with a broad grin and outstretched arms, yelling something unintelligible in their direction. When he had reached them, Louis could see that his eyes where already a bit hazy from the alcohol, and his hair looked disheveled. He seemed to be having a great time.

"Fashionably late, as always, I see," Ed chuckled in good humor.

"I'm a busy man," Zayn winked at him and while that was true, it didn't apply to that night. Zayn simply preferred to be late. It looked cooler. Like he was on top of things.

"Yeah, sure you are," Ed laughed, not buying it for a minute, "Almost thought you were bailing on me. Would've not looked good for the next track that I'm currently writing for your album."

Louis rolled his eyes with a smile. "Happy Birthday, lad," he bumped his fist with Ed's and gave him a half hug. While looking over his shoulder, Louis suddenly spotted a face in the crowd that made his heart jump involuntarily. Brown thick locks and a dimpled smile. He hadn't seen that face in months and he definitely hadn't expected to see him today.

Harry was leaning against the railing of a staircase, leading to an elevated part of the room; hands in his pockets, his unbuttoned light blue shirt hanging loosely over a plain white t-shirt. He looked so casual and laid-back, not at all the neat and somewhat chipper little boy from the red carpet. He looked handsome. So handsome that Louis only noticed all those giggling, pretty girls that crowded the space around him when one of them dragged her fingertips over his chest. There were at least a dozen of them surrounding him, but that one girl in particular seemed to be in hopes of feeling something specific underneath Harry’s shirt, located roughly in the middle of his torso. All of the girls were very bluntly pushing out their chest towards him which Louis would've taunted with a roll of his eyes if he wasn't so flustered about Harry's mere presence in the room.

With a quickly beating heart, Louis stepped back next to Liam who always served as his anchor whenever Louis felt lost. He grabbed his hand into his own and squeezed it tightly. "Shit, Liam, Harry Styles is here," he hissed into his best friend’s ear, "I didn't even know he was friends with Ed. What is he doing here?"

Liam who had been listening to Ed shrugged his shoulders lazily, "Dunno, Lou. It kinda makes sense if you ask me," he mumbled without directly looking at Louis, "They're both up-and-coming. No wonder they know each other."

Obviously, the answer didn't help Louis at all, so he hastily took another look into the direction of the staircase. In that very moment, a waitress dropped her tray right next to them and a whole set of empty margarita glasses noisily shattered on the ground.

On the other side of the room, Harry who had just been telling some people about his second set of nipples (which was always a great party anecdote to fill an awkward gap in the conversation), raised his head at the sound. But instead of spotting the crouched down girl next to the broken shards, his eyes land on the person he had been thinking about for the past three months. At least whenever he hadn't been hanging out with Caroline.

Louis was looking back at him with wide eyes, not minding the turmoil around him at all. He had his fringe styled differently which made him look more mature in a way, and the blue stripes on his white shirt just fit perfectly with his whole appearance.

Harry was about to break into a full-on beaming smile and literally skip across the room to meet him when his gaze fell upon Louis' right hand, holding onto another hand. Said hand, Harry quickly detected, belonged to none other than Liam Payne who Harry had thought to be Louis' best friend, but obviously there seemed to be more. So instead of the cheerful welcoming, he settled for a polite smile and a tiny nod of his head, trying his best to appear blasé.

Louis smiled back at him, albeit feeling somewhat disappointed by Harry's reaction to the unexpected encounter. He didn't expect Harry to jump into his arms when he saw him again, but he did hope for a bit more excitement in his eyes.

"Let's go, boys. I'll have the first round of shots with you," Ed announced to the group before Louis could get too worked up about it. He led the three boys to the bar and told the barkeeper to poor them four shots of tequila.

"So, you're releasing your debut single soon?" Liam said to the ginger guy while taking a shot glass into his hand, waiting for the rest to catch up.

"Yeah, man," Ed nodded his head in excitement, "This is huge like, my first real own single for people to buy. It'll take a couple of more months but then it's out there. Then, I'll finally know how great you must be feeling all the time," he addressed the last part to Zayn who had sat down on a bar stool next to a group of girls.

"I'll make sure to tweet about it and tell everyone to buy the shit out of the song, mate," Zayn smiled supportively and raised his glass, too.

"Well then, to the birthday boy, everyone," Louis hollered and already flipped the contents of the shot glass into his mouth.

When the others had knocked back their drinks, too, and tossed the shot glasses back on the bar top, a girl with raven hair next to Zayn turned around to him. "You're starting off strong, aren't you," she smiles sweetly, "Didn't you just arrive?"

Only one look was enough for Zayn to shift on his stool to face her entirely, and forget about the other three boys. Louis only rolled his eyes and made a point of not listening to Zayn's answer at all.

Instead, he stupidly allowed himself to let his gaze wander across the room. Naturally, his eyes landed on Harry at some point who was still standing in the exact same spot chatting with those girls. Only that there were even more of them somehow, and a few guys. Harry didn't even glance over at Louis or look for him in the crowd. Why would he, though? He had all that attention by really beautiful people, why would he even look at Louis?

"Wanna go over to him," Ed said to Louis with a raised eyebrow, having noticed his stare, "I don't think you can understand much of what he's saying if you only watch him from the other side of the room."

Louis whipped around at Ed's words, feeling absolutely caught. "No!" he said hastily, "No, that's fine. I wasn't even really looking at Harry. Just the general direction. I was- deep in thought."

Ed smirked at Louis, and even Liam chuckled knowingly. "How do you know I was talking about Harry then?" he laughs, "Well, at least I know that I don't have to introduce you anymore. That would've been awkward if you didn’t know him and still gave him a look like _that_. Love at first sight and all," he sucked some air in for added dramatic effect, "You sure you don't wanna go and say hi?"

Louis shook his head firmly, nevertheless couldn't help but look over to the curly lad, once more. Like, sure. He could go over there, but what's the use? He'd just stand there and drool over him like an idiot, just like every single one of those other losers.

"Really?" Ed didn't seem to budge, "Well, he _will_ go home with one of those people, as far as I know him. He's a sweetheart, but he simply doesn't like to fall asleep alone. Has some kind of phobia or something. So, basically, if you wanna make sure he doesn't spend the night with one of those numb nuts, better show him some other options."

Louis could practically feel his glance become more wistful as he listened to Ed's words. But either way, he tried his best to conceal it. He just couldn't come across as that desperate in front of Ed. "We're good," he mumbled, and gave Liam a pointed look to stop him from objecting.

The ginger watched Louis carefully for another moment, before he shrugged and walked off in the direction of the staircase.

"Will you tell me what all of that was about, now?" Liam confronted his best friend when Ed was out of earshot.

"Nothing," Louis replied in a high-pitched tone, "I'm just sure, Harry has enough people bickering over his attention. I don't want to be one of _those_ ," he grumbled with a vast gesture towards the crowd of people surrounding the young lead singer.

"Man, seriously, don't you get it?" said Liam powerfully and grabbed Louis' shoulders with each of his hands, looking him straight in the eyes, "If Ed's right, Harry Styles is going to spend the whole night with someone that hadn't been sulking over him for the past months. Meaning anyone but you. He's going to find some random person and you'll end up in your bed next to me- no under the covers action included, of course," he chuckled but went right back to business, "Lou, look around you. Zayn and Harry are pretty much the only real celebrities in this building. And this dimwit here," he turned around slightly to whack over Zayn's head while the ladder what still flirting with the dark-haired girl, "will most certainly not be trying to snatch that curly head from right under your nose. So really, with Zayn out of the way, you are probably the most desirable person in this room for a noob like Harry. Just take your chances."

"He's not like that," Louis objected knowingly, "He doesn't care about how famous people are. I'm sure of it. Being Zayn's lapdog won't give me any advantage on those people. He only surrounds himself with people who are interesting and worthwhile."

"And you aren't?" Liam raised his eyebrow at the older boy.

Before replying, Louis looked over to Harry, once more. Ed had just arrived at the staircase and Harry seemed absolutely delighted to see him, immediately welcoming him into the circle and pulling him right next to him. When Ed leaned over to whisper something into his ear, Harry's eyes darted across the room, directly at Louis who instantly tensed up at being caught staring. Harry's expression, however, twisted into disappointment as he stared back at Louis for a second. Then, his features seemed to relax again before he mindlessly slung an arm around one of the tall blonde girls in front of him to pull her closer.

Louis shook his head and pressed his lips together in frustration. "Whatever, let's go dancing," he grumbled at Liam and grabbed a hold of his wrist to pull him onto the dancefloor. He led them to the very center of the dancefloor since Louis really didn't like dancing all that much and he always felt like he needed to really lose himself in the middle of all those people. After the first two songs that didn't really tickle Louis' nerves, an old song that he had once performed in a school musical started playing and transferred the boy into a state of excitement, for the first time that night. He wasn't quite the dancer. He basically liked to push his arms up and down and pretend-clap his hands to the beat of the music, it looked rather funny. But Liam's style which contained of mainly hectic footwork and a weird posture of his wrist, wasn't much better. So Louis quickly forgot about the other people and let himself get carried away by the music.

About a handful of songs in, Zayn emerged from the crowd, accompanied by the same girl from the counter. They'd brought along another round of shots and each handed the other two boys a glass. It was of some bright green color and tasted like gin with something minty. Having his two best buddies right next to him (even though Zayn was rather preoccupied with the lips of that raven girl) made Louis completely forget about a certain dimpled people magnet.

It felt like they'd been on the dancefloor for hours. Every once in a while, Louis or Zayn went back to get another round of shots since the barkeeper wasn't really allowed to give those out to minors (even though tonight, no one really minded). Occasionally, Ed appeared with a few cups of beer to make sure his guests were never empty handed. At some point, they decided to hit the photo booth and ended up making everyone else wait for at least 20 minutes for their turn inside the booth, because the boys thought it so funny to think of the utmost weirdest ways to pose in front of the camera. After that, they continued dancing, all feeling a lot more pumped about the music after the fun they had pissing everyone off at the photo booth.

Louis was completely lost in the atmosphere of the party; bawling along to the music, feeling the bodies of strangers move against him, and kind of loving the way it made him feel. But despite the buzzing state Louis was in, it didn't take him more than a second to recognize Harry as he stepped onto the dancefloor. Behind him, one of the guys that had joined him by the staircase, earlier that night, put his hands onto Harry's hips as they weaved through the crowd. Right in Louis' field of view, Harry stopped and started pressing his back against the other dude's chest. They began to move their bodies against each other and Louis was certain that Harry kept staring directly at him for the entirety of the first song. After that, the lights dimmed down a bit and a song with a darker bass line and a heavy electrical beat started playing. So Harry finally averted his eyes. Instead, he began to move his hips even move, pressing against the guy behind him. He seemed to completely forget about everything and everyone else which left Louis fuming in the middle of the dancefloor.

He tried to ignore it as best as he could, but Harry was literally right there. And for some reason Louis couldn't even begin to look away. For more than one reason. Liam frowned at his friend when he noticed Louis' pissed expression but Louis didn't feel like reacting. When the crowd parted for a split second, he saw Ed sitting on a couch on the far side of the dancefloor, talking to some people Louis had never seen. It looked relaxed and chill, and so much better than the other option Louis had to be looking at. So he decided to take the opportunity and excuse himself from Zayn and Liam, before he made his way through the crowd to join the ginger lad.

"Oi, Teddy! Already tired?" Louis called across the small cocktail table in front of the sofa when he reached Ed, "You're getting old, mate."

Ed looked up and laughed. "Yeah, be careful what you're saying, man. It's my birthday party after all, and I can kick you out whenever I want to," he winked but also scooted over to make space for Louis to sit down, "So, how are you enjoying yourself?"

Louis shrugged his shoulders. "Fine," he smiled even though the image of Harry rubbing against some tall, buff dude didn't want to leave his brain.

"Really? Didn't sound very convincing, Tommo. Are you not having fun? Here take another one of these," he said and thrusted another glass of intoxicating liquid into Louis' hand, "There you go- yes, get it down- right. Now, let me introduce you to Nina. She's a songwriter," he looked over to a blonde girl sitting next to him, "and very beautiful, may I add."

The girl called Nina placed a blunt between her lips to reach over and shake Louis' hand. "Hey man," he smiled and extended the blunt towards Louis, "You want some?"

Louis stared at the white thing. "Uh, no thanks," he smiled shyly, "I don't smoke. Not gonna start now."

The girl with heavy eyeliner smirked at him. "That's not a smoke, you know?" she told him.

In that moment, Louis noticed his friends approaching and sighed in relief. "Still," he addressed Nina, "thanks. I'm good."

"Ey, Tommo, I'm off," said Zayn who had his arm looped around the waste of that same girl, when they stood next to the sofas, "Think we're going to party a little more in my hotel room," he winked at the girl who went to nestle his neck and press her lips against his skin.

Liam pretended to be gaging next to them. "Buzz off, Malik," he grunted and shoved on Zayn's shoulders lightly, "Nobody wants to know."

Louis snickered when his friend had left the bar. "He stuck to the same girl for the entire night. She must be special," he joked.

"Don't be too quick, Tommo," Liam rolled his eyes, "he's not yet in his room. He could encounter at least another 20 girls."

Before Louis could agree and laugh about Liam's remark, Harry walked straight past the sofas and back to the staircase where everyone was still waiting for him. The guy he'd been dancing with was visibly turned on by whatever they'd been doing on the dancefloor. When Harry caught Louis' gaze, he smirked and pulled the guy close to him by his collar. For a moment, the two guys looked at each other suggestively which clearly indicated to Louis that they were about to snog. Hard. So Louis made a point of looking away immediately, but not without clenching his jaw in frustration.

"Okay guys, it's like three," Ed announced to the people around the table when Louis started paying attention to the others again, "I'll have one more shot with you guys and then I'll follow Zayn's lead and move the party to my room."

"But you'll only allow me to join, right?" Nina threw in while filling some shot glasses.

"Absolutely, darling," he laughed, "Private party is what I meant to say."

After they downed their shots, Liam sat down on the armrest next to Louis and bent down a little. "Okay, Harry Styles can seriously not stop looking over here, Louis. Finally, do something about it," he said with a pointed look.

Louis flicked his eyes inconspicuously over to Harry and. Yes, as it happened, his eyes were just pinned on Louis' face but within seconds, he turned his head and looked away. It could've been a coincidence.

"If you ask me, he's perfectly fine over there," Louis said in a high-pitched voice, looking at the guy who was still sporting quite the bulge, "or else he would've already moved his ass over here, wouldn't he?"

Liam sighed exasperatedly and Louis could see him exchange a look with Ed.

"I'm off, too," Ed sighed with raised eyebrows and turned to Nina, "You can go ahead, love. I'll be right with you. I'll just go check on my parents," he kissed her cheek and got up, turning back to Liam and Louis, "I need to go and see what they're up to. I can't believe I even invited them. They're absolutely embarrassing when they're drunk."

Then he padded away, mumbling something about 'never again' and 'not their babysitter', and left a laughing Louis and Liam behind.

When Ed and Nina left, not many people were still remaining at the bar. There were still a couple of people on the dancefloor and a few spread across the room, but other than that only the crowd of mainly girls surrounding Harry had remained. Liam and Louis didn't know anyone else and the party was obviously slowly dying. The two friends remained on the sofa, for a while not speaking at all. Liam was visibly bored to death.

"You know," he said to Louis when a quieter song began to play, "he's still looking."

Sadly, Louis instantly knew who Liam was talking about. "Who cares," he huffed but couldn't help but check again. Harry was looking at him and this time, he didn't avert his gaze when Louis caught him. They stared at each other for a while and Louis didn't even know why.

Only when Liam yawned noisily, Louis broke eye contact with Harry and looked at Liam who got up from the sofa. "Let's go to bed, Louis," he said in a monotone voice, clearly tired from all the dancing.

Louis' gaze involuntarily drifted back to Harry who was still looking at him. The thought of going back to the hotel room with Liam and just going to sleep and that's that, felt horrible. So when the horny guy who Harry had been dancing with looped his arms around Harry, and Harry just brushed him off politely, Louis decided something.

"You go ahead," he told Liam confidently, "I'll be right behind you. And if not, don't worry. I'll be fine. I just have to try something."

Liam shrugged his shoulders and waved his pal goodbye. He said something to Louis, before he left but Louis didn't really register it anymore. Instead, he took one last shot that was conveniently sitting on the table in front of him and got up to his feet. He steadily walked towards Harry who was distracted by another conversation.

"Sorry, Ladies, coming through," he called as he reached the group of people, making his way past those girls, "coming through."

Everyone went quiet when Louis pushed past the last girl until he stood right in front of Harry whose green eyes looked back at him in surprise. Instead of saying something, Louis simply took Harry's hand into his own, making the younger boy bite his lips to contain a smile. Then he turned around, pulling Harry away from a gaping group of people. Harry very happily obliged, lacing his fingers with Louis'.

Louis couldn't help the excited grin forming on his lips, before he barely turned his head to shout over his shoulder towards the people left behind, "Sorry guys. Party is over, I guess. I win."


End file.
